Castle On a Cloud
by Chihori Anigma
Summary: Favourite finds Cosette and brings her home to Fantine. A series a vignettes from then until Cosette is an adult.
1. Crying At All Is Not Allowed

It was raining. It was always raining it seemed to Fantine. She coughed and squinted in the flickering candlelight, trying to scratch out a few last words for her Cosette before the candle burned out. She wouldn't have any candles until she got paid again when that happened and she wanted her Cosette to know how much she loved her even if she couldn't see her.

There was a knock of the door just as the candle went out. Fantine stood up slowly, her muscles aching as they had ever since she started working in the factory. When she opened the door at first she couldn't place the woman who stood there, dressed like a prostitute. She certainly wasn't a woman from the factory. None of them liked her and they would have died rather than dressed like that. Then she realized who it was.

"Favourite!"

"The one and only." Favourite smiled at her. "Can I come in?"

"I-I don't have any food. Or candles. Or-"

"It's alright. I heard you had a baby."

"Yes." Even now Fantine lit up at the mention of Cosette, but it could not last long. Her face fell and her body seemed to droop more than before. "Cosette. I gave her to an innkeeper's wife to take care of, though. I can't keep her here. I send money every month but it never seems to be enough. She's sick, they said."

"She's not."

"Wha-?"

"Look." Favourite stepped inside and behind her was a small, skinny girl, who stared up with huge grey eyes at the mother she didn't remember. Fantine dropped to her knees.

"Cosette," she sobbed, gathering into her lap the tiny, wide-eyed girl. "Cosette! I have missed you so much. Let me see you. You are so beautiful, my Cosette." She pushed strands of hair away from Cosette's eyes and cupped her face. Cosette, who was now staring into a crying stranger's eyes, began to cry too.

"Oh, my Cosette."

"Cosette, this is your mother," Favourite said, kneeling down next to them.

"She doesn't remember me?"

"'Fraid not. She asked if I was her mother when I took her away. If they told you she was sick they were lying to you, but they were starving her and working her half to death. Look at the bruises on her."

Fantine looked. "She can't stay there."

"No, and you can't stay here either. Come with me."

"Where?"

"Rome. I have a friend there. Works in the opera. You're pretty and you have a good enough voice from what I remember. You'll be famous if you're lucky."

"I can't-"

"Why not? What do you have here? A job in the factory where you're slowly killing yourself and not enough money for candles? If you don't want to move for yourself move for the child. She needs some food."

Fantine hugged Cosette tighter. "When do we leave?"


	2. A Place Where No One Cries

p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 14.175px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Why up so early, Fanny?"/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 14.175px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Fantine turned around and smiled at her partner, Favourite, then pointed to Cosette who was gulping down breakfast./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 14.175px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""The child needed breakfast."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 14.175px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Cosette looked up when she heard herself mentioned and both women smiled at her. By now they knew better than to try to touch her unless she touched first. It hurt Fantine to see her child so hurt, but she knew she could do nothing but be a caring mother until Cosette was able to trust her./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 14.175px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Hey, you should go to bed. I'll watch Cosette," she cut Fantine off before she could protest about Cosette needing someone to watch her./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 14.175px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""But you must be exhausted also. You still have your makeup on."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 14.175px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""And that's exactly why I should watch Cosette. Go to sleep; I'll sleep in the afternoon. Besides we both have a show tonight and we both know that it takes you longer to put on makeup so you should take the afternoon shift."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 14.175px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""I don't like leaving Cosette all alone with only Mabeuf every night," Fantine said, as Favourite helped her unlace her corset. Mabeuf was an old bookseller that slept in their house every night and in payment watched Cosette while Fantine and Favourite were at work as opera singers./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 14.175px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""She likes Mabeuf."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 14.175px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""I know, but she needs me. Children need their mothers."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 14.175px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Listen, Fantine." Favourite sat on their bed, next to her, and took her hands in her own. "It's not your fault. You had no choice. And you couldn't know how awful the Thénardiers were going to be."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 14.175px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""But-"/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 14.175px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Hush, it's not an argument." She kissed her forehead. "Now go to sleep and I'll watch Cosette."/p 


	3. A Place Where No One's Lost

p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 14.175px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Fantine and Favourite sat on the grass, holding hands. Cosette ran, chasing butterflies and catching them to bring to Mabeuf who would tell her what kind of butterfly they were. Suddenly she ran up to Fantine and held out a butterfly in her cupped hands./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 14.175px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Look!" she demanded./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 14.175px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""It's beautiful," Fantine agreed. "Just like you."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 14.175px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"In that moment she thought she couldn't be happier. She had a steady, paying job that meant she would always have enough food and candles for her and her daughter, who still didn't talk much and maybe never would but was happy. She lived in a lovely apartment with her family-which included her partner and an old man they had adopted and that adopted them, and it was a beautiful day with the sun shining and the right amount of breeze and Favourite jumping up and shrieking because an ant had tried to crawl up her skirts./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 14.175px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Fantine pulled her back down and leaned her head on her shoulder./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 14.175px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""I love you."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 14.175px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""I love you, too," Favourite answered, and Fantine laughed because everything was perfect and she was happy in a way she couldn't remember being since Cosette was born./p 


	4. Epilogue

p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 14.175px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Mama, Favourite, this is Marius. He's my fiancé." Cosette said. She held so tightly to Marius' hand that it should have hurt him but he was holding back just as tightly to hers./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 14.175px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""He looks beautiful," Favourite said. "You made a good choice."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 14.175px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Cosette blushed, but smiled. Fantine didn't say anything./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 14.175px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Mama?"/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 14.175px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""If he hurts you we'll always be here. You know that, darling, right?"/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 14.175px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Of course, Mama. But," she smiled at Marius and pulled him closer to her. He somehow blushed harder than he had been seen blushing since they walked in the door and stared at his feet, "He won't hurt me. He's my soulmate."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 14.175px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Favourite rolled her eyes at the mention of soulmates. "There's no such thing, lark. But we're happy you're happy. Right, Fantine?"/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 14.175px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Of course. Cosette, I'll always be happy in your happiness and sad in your sadness. And we will always be here for you."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 14.175px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Mama." Cosette pulled Fantine in to hug her and Marius. Favourite joined immediately./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 14.175px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Have you told to Mabeuf yet?"/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 14.175px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""We had to tell Mama first. But we're going down to his bookshop to tell him now." She kissed her mothers each on the cheek, then Marius, who blushed yet harder./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 14.175px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"When she told Mabeuf he just looked at them./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 14.175px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Remember, lark, to be free."/p 


End file.
